Residential circuit breakers such as described within U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,268 entitled "Automated Q-Line Circuit Breaker" are arranged within a load center in residences, apartment buildings and the like. The line straps at one end of the circuit breakers are positioned on the corresponding line stabs within the load centers and the load straps at the opposite end are arranged within load lugs which are manually connected with corresponding electrical distribution conductors by means of load terminal screws.
Upon initial installation of the load center, substantial time is required to manually torque each of the load terminal screws to insure tight mechanical and electrical connection between the circuit breaker load straps and the associated wire conductors.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,946,897 entitled "Electric Fuse Clamp", U.S. Pat. No. 2,864,071 entitled "Clamping Device for Electric Wires", U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,726 entitled "Screwless Type Electrical Terminal Block" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,563 entitled "Bus Bar Tab Connector" describe various means for attaching circuit breakers, fuses and the like to associated wire conductors. Each of the devices within the aforementioned patents require sizing the connectors in accordance with the size of the associated wire conductors. The camming arrangement disclosed in aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,726, for example, is sized for use with printed circuit board terminals which operate at much lower currents than residential circuit breakers.
U.S. patent application Docket No. 41PR-7095 entitled "Circuit Breaker Load Strap Connector" (filed concurrently herewith) describes a rapid lug connector that utilizes a charged compression spring to provide torqued connection between the circuit breaker load strap and the associated wire conductor.
One purpose of the invention is to provide a circuit breaker load strap connector that is capable of handling current levels associated with residential and industrial electrical distribution circuits and can be rapidly connected with the associated wire conductors without requiring screwdrivers or similar tools to make the connection.